


Love me for who I am

by lindagoesgaga



Category: La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV)
Genre: DRAMAtical Lesbians, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Romance, soft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:08:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26900410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lindagoesgaga/pseuds/lindagoesgaga
Summary: Ralicia marriage AU
Relationships: Raquel Murillo/Alicia Sierra
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	1. I am yours and you are mine

**Author's Note:**

> hello you guys, I've decided to write a Ralicia marriage AU where our fav non canon lesbians are living their happiest life in madrid. 
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated <3

**I am yours and you are mine**

It’s their anniversary. They’ve been married for five years now after being together for three. Although they never really celebrate their anniversary except for an annual dinner date at a fancy restaurant where they have too much alcohol which then leads to hours and hours of passionate sex.

Lately, something’s been different. Alicia has been acting distant and off with Raquel. Raquel blamed it on her work, it’s been quite stressful for Alicia lately and she’s been staying late at the office almost every night of the week. Alicia worked for an international interior design company and her clients were super fancy and high class people who only want the best of the best. Alicia never complained about her job, in fact, she loved it very much; though sometimes the people were too extra for her and all she wanted to do was yell at them and tell them to dial down their arrogance.

Raquel works as a journalist for a local newspaper. She mostly writes about the political situation in Spain and the human rights violations that are happening all over the world. She studied political science and sociology at the university in Bilbao and then moved to Madrid where she stumbled across Alicia in a coffee shop. The two haven’t stopped talking ever since.

They were inseparable and one thing lead to the other and now they were happily married. Don’t ask her but Alicia was the first to say ‘I love you’ to Raquel after a night out with too much alcohol and too many feelings. Alicia hates to show her feelings openly and at work she’s known as the pragmatic, stone-cold bitch but with Raquel she lets her guard down.

Raquel was her safe space, the only thing in her world that has been constant. Ever since her parents got divorced when she was 15 years old, she had been scared to get close to other people. When she moved out for university she had the occasional fling with both men and women but nobody ever came close enough for her to let them in. But then there was Raquel. Alicia knew from the very first moment that she never wanted to let her go again. She asked her five years ago to marry her and Raquel said yes, of course.

They lived in a beautiful apartment in central Madrid with big floor to ceiling windows and lots of plants; naturally they are being taken care of by Raquel. Alicia did it once and they all died. They have two cats named Salt and Pepper and one dog named Mayle. The names were Raquel’s choice, obviously. Alicia would have named their cats bitch and bitch 2 but Raquel wasn’t very keen on these names.

They were happy in their little apartment. They had everything they needed and they knew that. They loved coming home to each other and crawling into bed after a long and exhausting work day to cuddle and make out. They don’t need anyone but each other. They understand each other without words and always know what the other wants or needs in that exact same moment.

But when Raquel woke up that morning she knew something was different. Usually Alicia would make her breakfast in bed and they would have a hot session of ‘good morning it’s our anniversary’ sex which would then lead to a shower together and more sex; but not today.

Raquel turned around only to see an empty bed and the apartment was quiet so Alicia probably already left for work. She didn’t know what was wrong with Alicia lately. Raquel knew she had a big project at work and it took everything from her but it wasn’t the first one and she certainly never acted like that towards Raquel. Even when work got stressful she still never neglected Raquel but this time she did and it left Raquel wondering if she did something wrong.

She couldn’t think of anything. Of course they had their quarrels and their fights could get very heated but they always made up right after. It was mostly Alicia who apologised first because she couldn’t stand when Raquel was mad at her. Funny because she is also the one who puts her walls up first and ignores Raquel because she wasn’t good at telling her how she felt. Alicia wasn’t good at damage control so Raquel always had to be the one to corner her and force it out of her and eventually Alicia would let her guard down and tell Raquel how she felt.

Raquel got out of bed and went through their apartment into their kitchen. At least Alicia prepared some coffee for her. That’s all Raquel needed in the morning. A good cup of coffee and she was able to function, don’t make the mistake of trying to talk to her before she’s had her coffee. Raquel sat down at their kitchen table with her cup of coffee and got her phone out and sent a message to Alicia.

_“Good morning, when did you leave?”_

She didn’t need to wait long for her phone to light up with a new message.

_“I woke up at 5am, didn’t want to wake you. Left for work but prepared you some coffee. Will be back home late, don’t wait for me with dinner.”_

Raquel put her phone down again. Something was definitely wrong. Raquel’s mind was racing. Thoughts of Alicia having an affair came up but there were no indications that she did. She still smelled the same when she crawled into bed next to Raquel.

“ _Don’t be ridiculous, Raquel, Alicia is not having an affair. She’s just busy with work. Everything’s fine.”_ , she kept thinking while feeding Salt and Pepper and getting dressed to take Mayle for a walk.

It was a cold but beautiful autumn morning and her and Mayle went to the park and when they reached it she let her of the leash so she could run around and chase the squirrels that weren’t fast enough to get on a tree in time. Mayle was a springer spaniel and they got her from an animal shelter. The second Raquel held her in her arms Mayle wrapped her paws around Raquel’s arm and that was it. They had to take her home after that and it didn’t take long for Mayle to get used to her new surroundings and soon they had to try very hard to get her out of their bed every night.

When Mayle was done playing with the squirrels she came back to Raquel who was sitting on a bench, basking in the sunlight. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice Mayle sitting down directly in front of her and putting her small head on Raquel’s knee.

“You always notice when something’s wrong, don’t you? I don’t know to be honest, Alicia is worrying me. You see today is our anniversary and we always go out but Alicia won’t be home until late because she’s busy with work and I’m starting to think she’s avoiding me.”

Mayle tilted her head to the side looking confused as to what her owner was telling her.

“Ah well, you don’t have to worry about a thing. You’re only a tiny dog whose favourite activity is chasing squirrels in the park. Come on, love, I’m cold. Let’s go home.”

Raquel put Mayle on the leash again and they walked home. Once home Raquel sat down on the kitchen table with her laptop and her second cup of coffee and got to work. A huge advantage of being a journalist is that she could work from home whenever her work allowed her to. So she sat down and got down to researching about her new article “America elects one far right president and suddenly the whole globe encounters a rise of nationalists”. To be very honest she was so over writing about politics sometimes but then she remembered that she was privileged enough to not be affected by it. She was a white, comfortably rich woman living in Europe. She didn’t have to fear for her life because of her skin colour or because of her religion. Not even because of her relationship to a woman since same sex marriage was legalised in Spain in 2005. These things just reminded her that she couldn’t stop writing about politics and bringing awareness to people because there were people out there who couldn’t do that. So in some ways she had to be a voice for them and get people to talk about what’s going on in the world.

Raquel was so lost in her writing and researching for her article that she almost forgot to have lunch. She found some leftover pasta in the fridge and she heated it up in the microwave. During the wait for her food to be ready she was leaning against the counter in the kitchen and looked out of the window onto the street where some children were playing.

Her and Alicia never wanted to have children, they were enough for each other. They didn’t need to have the proof that they were a happily married couple but Raquel did quite enjoy the company of children. She loved looking after her Monica’s, her best friend, children. Monica is a single mother to a son called Cincinnati. His father died in a car accident and ever since then Monica had to raise Cincinnati on her own. Raquel loved having film nights with him or spending a day with him and spoiling him absolutely rotten but she had to admit that she was glad that Monica always picked him up at the end of the day.

The sound of the microwave brought her back to reality and she took her pasta and sat down at their kitchen table again. She ate in silence while thinking about Alicia.

“ _Why did she leave so early?”_

_“Why is she not talking to me?”_

_“Why has she put her walls about again?”_

_“Is there something wrong with me?”_

She didn’t hear her phone that was right next to her. Finally after the 5th ‘ _bing’_ sound she looked at it and it showed several messages from Alicia.

_“Go into our bedroom and open the door to our wardrobe.”_

_“There you’ll see a dress. I picked it out for you because we’re going out tonight.’_

_“Take a shower and do your make up. I’ll take you some place fancy.”_

_“Be ready by 7pm.”_

_“A driver will be picking you up right outside our front door and take you to me. Don’t be late”_

A small smile appeared on Raquel’s face while reading the messages and she made her way to their bedroom. When she opened the wardrobe door she was greeted with a long, black v-coloured neck dress with a long slit up to the knee. It was so far out of Raquel’s comfort zone but for once a year she would manage. Suddenly her worries were gone and a warm feeling of excitement filled her whole body. This dress looked too expensive for her but she would do everything and anything for Alicia and if she chose that dress for her she sure as hell was going to model it for her.

When she got out of the shower she tried on the dress and it made her feel very powerful. She knew Alicia didn’t have an affair, she knew there wasn’t something wrong. Alicia is just bad at keeping surprises from Raquel and that’s why she’s been keeping her distance. Raquel let out a content breath, she knew it from the very beginning. Her brain just loved playing tricks with her and the thing she was best at was doubting herself and thinking she wasn’t good enough.

She’s always had that thought due to nobody ever really giving her the intention that she wasn’t good enough. She grew up in a household where her parents always made sure that she knew she was loved. More so her mother than her dad but that was okay. She and her sister were inseparable all throughout their childhood but when her sister married a manipulative asshole they lost contact. They still saw each other at Christmas occasionally or for their parents’ birthdays but they never really connected again.

She put the dress back in the wardrobe again and started blowdrying and styling her hair. She would go for an easy up-do since Alicia will probably ruin her hair later anyways. Although it was only 3pm and she wasn’t even finished with her article yet she couldn’t wait to see Alicia tonight. After all it was their anniversary and they hadn’t really seen each other for the past few weeks.

“Come on, Mayle. We’re going for a walk again, Mama needs to get ready later.”

By the mention of going for a walk Mayle who was fast asleep jumped up and ran to the door so fast that she nearly ran into the corner.

“Easy love, I’m coming.”, Raquel chuckled and after putting on her coat and her shoes, she put Mayle on her leash again and off they went.

When they came back Raquel gave Salt and Pepper their dinner and by 6pm she was all ready to go sitting on their sofa in her dress with her hair in a loose bun. When the doorbell rang she got up to answer it.

“Miss Murillo, I’m here to take you to your date.”, the driver said and turned around to walk to the car and open the door for her.

Raquel had to admit that this was very fancy. Where the hell is Alicia taking her? The driver was taking her through the centre of Madrid to a secluded building. It looked abandoned and Raquel was wondering what was waiting for her. She was kind of intimidated and when the driver opened the car door for her again she hesitated. He seemed to notice because he gave her a small smile.

“Go in and take a turn to the left. Go through the door until you’re standing in front of an elevator. Take the elevator all the way up and then you should see it.”

“Okay, gracias.”, Raquel was so confused. See what? What is in the building?

Little did she know that Alicia had prepared the room like an art gallery and it was plastered with pictures of them from when they got to know each other all the way up to now. She put fairy lights everywhere and candles on the floor to light the way through the gallery. So when the elevator doors opened Raquel couldn’t believe her eyes. In front of her she saw pictures of her and Alicia and when she followed the candles she saw a table with two plates and two wine glasses but no sign of Alicia. Where was she?

She slowly started walking through the gallery and looked at all the pictures of her and Alicia. There was the one of them on their first date. It mostly just showed Raquel because Alicia was behind the camera but they were walking through the park and Raquel was holding Alicia’s hand and looking back at her laughing. Then there was the one of them sleeping in their first apartment, on a mattress on the floor. She couldn’t remember who took that photo but it was a lovely memory. Their first apartment was little because they couldn’t afford much yet but they loved it and when they moved out Raquel was a little sad that they were leaving their sacred little place.

Another photo showed them on their first holiday together in Italy. They went to Florence for two weeks and explored Tuscany and probably ate too much pasta and drank too much wine. Raquel smiled to herself at that memory. They should go on holiday soon again, it was long overdue.

Suddenly there were two arms sliding around her waist from behind and a voice whispering into her ear.

“Good evening mi amor, I’m glad you came. We have a very special evening ahead of us.”

At Alicia’s deep voice so close to her ear and feeling her breath on her skin Raquel got goosebumps and a certain feeling arose in her lower belly. She turned around to face Alicia and what she saw left her speechless. Alicia was wearing a red low cut spaghetti strap dress and it showed just enough of her cleavage for Raquel to get lost in the imagination what they were going to do later.

“You look absolutely stunning, cariño. I was so worried all day but this view just made up for it.”

Alicia took a step back and looked at Raquel perplexed.

“Why were you worried? About what?”

“It’s stupid now so it doesn’t matter.”, Raquel felt a little embarrassed thinking about her thoughts from this morning.

“No, tell me. Why were you worried?”, Alicia placed her finger under Raquel’s chin and nudged her to look at her. Raquel looked up at her and sighed.

“It’s really not that big of a deal but I was worried that I did something wrong. You were so distant for the past few weeks and at first I thought it was just your work getting to you again. Wouldn’t be the first time, you know? But the you left really early this morning on our anniversary and sent me a message to not wait for you with dinner and it just send me into and overthinking spiral.”

Raquel sighed again and her shoulder slumped down in defeat. She was so embarrassed.

“Hey, mi amor, look you weren’t wrong about work. It’s kicking my ass because these ridiculously rich people want something that just isn’t manageable and they won’t accept that. Honestly rich people are a disease.”, Alicia rolled her eyes in annoyance but her face softened again when she looked at Raquel.

“I’m sorry I made you doubt yourself. You know how bad I am at keeping surprises so I thought spending as little time with you as possible will lower the chances of me spilling everything. I realise now that it was stupid. I was planning this for weeks and I wanted it to be perfect and I was so close to bursting because I was so excited for you to see.”

“I love you so much you dumbass”, Raquel laughed and kissed Alicia. The latter wrapped her arms around Raquel again and they got lost in their kisses. For a few moments you could only hear their kissing noises as they melted against each other. They really missed each other a lot.

“Okay before we continue this, and believe me I want to, we still have to eat this lovely dinner that I made for you.”, Alicia said and looked over to the table.

Raquel raised her eyebrows. Alicia was terrible at cooking.

“Who did you bribe?”, she asked teasingly.

“Wha- excuse me but I’ve made this lovely meal for my wife only for her to doubt me?”

Alicia put her hands on her waist and pretended to be offended. Raquel just looked at her amused waiting for her to break.

“Okay fine, I didn’t cook this for you, wouldn’t want to give you food poisoning. I asked our chef at work if he could cook a meal for us and he agreed. I promised to give him his holiday over Christmas and he was on board.”

Raquel laughed and moved closer to Alicia.

“Okay, that sounds much more like you. What do you say? Shall we eat because I have to admit I am quite hungry.”

Alicia nodded and they sat down at the table. Soon after some servers came out of nowhere, or at least it appeared like that since the only illuminated spot in the room was where they were sitting, and served them their food. It was a five course meal and Raquel just didn’t have any words for it. Everything was perfect. As she was watching Alicia cut her vegetables she just thought to herself how much she loved that woman. She felt so lucky to be spending the rest of her life with Alicia by her side. She was is lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice Alicia watching her.

“Why are you looking so dreamily? Thinking about another woman?”, Alicia teased.

“What? No oh my god-“

“Relax, I was kidding. I know that you’re only thinking about me.”

“Careful, don’t think too highly of yourself. There could be someone else.”, Raquel stated, smirking at Alicia.

“Oh yeah? Oh so does this person make you moan like I do? Do they make you scream their name like I do? Are they able to make you come five times in a row? Because if so, I would like to meet them so I can step up my game and win you back.”

They were back to teasing each other. Everything was alright. A feeling of ease filled Raquel’s whole body and she relaxed. She’s missed Alicia and she was glad that they were spending this evening together.

After finishing their meals Alicia leaned back and drank the rest of her wine. They ate quite a lot and her dress didn’t give her stomach enough room.

“So, what have you planned for now?”, Raquel asked her as she put her napkin aside.

“Now we go home and have the hottest round of sex we’ve ever had. I can’t wait to take you out of that dress, as much as I like it… but I like your naked body more. I haven’t appreciated it in such a long time and I miss it. There are so many things running through my mind that I wanna do to you.”

Raquel let out a silent moan and moved her chair closer to Alicia. She placed her hand on Alicia’s leg and moved her fingers up and down getting dangerously high. She moved close to Alicia’s face and whispered into her ear.

“I can’t wait to get home and I can’t wait for you to do all those things to me that you have in mind. I also can’t wait to pin you up against a wall and kiss you and while I kiss you I’m gonna undo the straps of your dress and go down continuing to kiss your body and-“

Suddenly all of the colour in Raquel’s face was gone.

“Darling, are you okay? What’s wrong?”, a worried Alicia put her hand on Raquel’s shoulder.

“I don’t know. I suddenly don’t feel very well. I feel a little faint.”, Raquel answered.

“You’re very warm. I really hope you’re not getting the flu. Can you walk? Let’s get you home.”

Alicia wrapped her arm around Raquel’s middle and stabilised her while they asked back to the elevator. As they reached it Raquel stumbled forward and nearly fell.

“Stay with me, mi amor. Hold on to me, I’ll hold you up. We’re nearly at the car.”

They got into the elevator which took them down and the car was waiting for them right in front of the building. When the driver saw them he knew something was wrong. He opened the door and helped Raquel in the car. Her forehead was sweaty and she was trembling. Alicia wrapped her coat around her shoulders and got close to her in the car.

“Please take the fastest route. I need to get her into bed.”

The driver nodded and drove off. It only took him 20 minutes despite traffic. He helped Alicia stabilise Raquel as they got out of the car and to their door. Raquel was barely awake anymore. Alicia thanked the driver and gave him a tip. She got the keys out and unlocked the door to their apartment. Mayle was asleep in her bed but when she noticed who just came home she got up and greeted her mums.

“Hello baby, your mama here isn’t feeling very well. I have to get her to bed and you go back to yours.”, she petted Mayle on her head and made her way to their bedroom, Raquel leaning on her shoulder.

Alicia undressed Raquel and got her into her pyjamas wrapping her up in their duvet so she would stop shivering.

“I’ll be right back, mi amor, I’ll jus get you some medicine and some water.”, Alicia whispered ad gave Raquel a small peck on her forehead.

She went into their bathroom to get some ibuprofen to at least lower Raquel’s temperature and she made a mental note to go to the pharmacy tomorrow to get her some more medicine. When she came back into the bedroom she saw that Mayle sneaked in and was now soundly asleep at the foot of the bed on Raquel’s side. Despite always saying that Mayle wasn’t allowed in their bedroom or in their bed she couldn’t be mad at her. Raquel and Mayle always have had a special bond ever since they’d gotten her from the shelter. Mayle always noticed when something was off with Raquel and when she was ill she never left her side. Just like right now, so Alicia just guessed she had to share their bed for the next three to four days. Or for however long Raquel was going to be ill.

She put the medicine down on Raquel’s nightstand who was already asleep. Even when she was ill she was beautiful. Alicia got into bed next to her and wrapped an arm around her protectively. Raquel let out a content sigh and pressed her body closer to Alicia.

“I love you, Alicia.”

“I love you too, mi amor. I love you so so much.”

With that they both fell asleep in each other’s arms and despite Raquel being feverish and ill they slept through the night.


	2. Fever dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raquel is battling with her illness while Alicia takes care of her.   
> Domestic Ralicia through and through

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to everyone reading this. comments and kudos are appreciated <3

TW:// MENTION OF VOMITING, MEDICINE DRUGS

Raquel woke up disoriented. She had absolutely no idea what happened. She felt like somebody tied 50kg weights to her legs and her arms, everything was heavy. She moved to look over and she saw Alicia sleeping soundly next to her. When she tried stretching out her legs there was resistance and when she saw Mayle sleeping at her feet she couldn’t help but smile. This dog always knew when something was wrong with her and she never left her side then. When she turned her head to the left, the sun shone directly into her eyes and she groaned in pain. Her head felt like it was going to explode any second.

“Cariño, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”, she heard Alicia ask her.

“Did we have too much alcohol? Are we that old yet?”

Alicia chuckled. Raquel couldn’t seem to remember anything.

“Do you know what happened yesterday after dinner?”

“No, not really. All I know is that you made this beautiful exhibition for me and then we had an excellent dinner. But the rest is just blurry which makes me believe that I had too much wine.”

“Darling, you nearly fainted on me. Suddenly you turned very white and started shaking and then the driver and I had to hold you up because you were nearly gone. I was so worried I didn’t know what was wrong. Did you eat something that a could have been bad?”

“Not that I remember, no.”

“How do you feel now?”, Alicia sat up in bed and leaned against the headboard.

“I feel like I spent a day at the gym and took the weights with me. I can’t move my body, everything is heavy.”

Alicia placed her hand on Raquel’s forehead and felt her temperature.

“Well you’re still burning up but it’s not as bad as it was yesterday evening. I say you stay in bed all day today and I’ll do everything you want. What do you want for breakfast?”

“Alicia I’m sorry I ruined our anniversary. I don’t know why this is happening now.”, Raquel tried to apologise but got interrupted.

“Hey stop, you didn’t ruin anything okay. I had a very lovely evening and you can’t help it if you’re ill. We can still have the sex you promised me some time else.”

Alicia chuckled and before Raquel could box her she moved out of bed and put on her robe.

“So what do you want for breakfast?”

“Honestly, I’m not very fussed about the idea of eating. Just some tea maybe.”, Raquel moved back down under the covers and closed her eyes because being awake was exhausting.

Alicia went into the kitchen followed by Mayle. She was greeted by Salt and Pepper sitting in front of their empty bowl giving her a “You are taking too long. We’re demanding food” look.

“Don’t look at me like that. Raquel is ill so you have to wait. I’ll take care of her first.”

This statement earned her an offended ‘meow’ from Salt and she watched her trot off with her tail held high.

_“God how can someone be so annoying? It’s not like you’re dying.”,_ Alicia thought while she gave Mayle her food and poured some dry cat food into Pepper’s bowl who was patiently waiting. He purred as if to say ‘Thank you for feeding me”.

“Yes my love, you’re grateful for me. Honestly where did your sister get her manners from?”

Alicia prepared some coffee for her and tea for Raquel and made some toast. Raquel had to eat something and if it was just some plain boring toast. Although when she went back to their bedroom, tray in her hands, she found a sleeping Raquel curled up under the covers. Only the top of her head was peaking out.

Alicia thought it looked adorable if not for the fact that Raquel was ill.She placed the tea and the plate with toast on Raquel’s nightstand, took her book and left their bedroom to settle on the couch in the living room. She began to read her book when a phone call came in. She picked up her phone and when she saw it was work she rolled her eyes in annoyance. It was a Saturday, what did they want?

“Hello?”

“Hi Alicia, sorry to bother you…”

_oh god it was that noisy couple_

“… but we’ve been thinking that we don’t want that wooden table anymore. Instead we thought that we could maybe have a talking pit like they had in the 70’s.”

And Alicia was gone. Honestly she couldn’t care less about what this couple would choose for their living room. Knowing how they are she’d probably get another call next week with the announcement that they would now want a flying pool outside and a ski lift.

She just gave the occasional ok and said she’d make some plans and talk to the architect and the other people who were working on this with her. Suddenly she heard some small cries in the distance. At first she thought it was a child outside but when she realised that the cries were coming from their bedroom she was alarmed.

“Excuse me I have to go. My wife is not feeling very well and I’m home to take care of her. I’ll let you know when the plans are done. Adios.”

Alicia hung up the phone without waiting for a response and rushed to the bedroom. Raquel was moving her head from one side to another and the duvet was on the floor.

“No don’t leave me. I don’t know what to do.”, small whines came out of Raquel’s mouth.

“Alicia don’t go.”

By the mention of her name Alicia went to sit at Raquel’s side and slightly shook her shoulder to wake her up.

“Ali?”, a puzzled Raquel looked up to see Alicia sitting next to her.

“Yeah I’m here. You had a nightmare. Can you remember what happened?”

“I don’t know, I forgot. I think you left me but I don’t know why.”

Alicia moved up next to Raquel and opened her arms to her. Raquel put her head on Alicia’s chest and wrapped her arms around her waist and held on to her tightly.

“You know that I could never leave you right. I would be miserable and you don’t have anything to worry about, ever!”, Alicia spoke soothingly into Raquel’s hair.

“I just get worried that we’re living two lives. You’re so busy with work and I have deadlines to reach with my articles. I love what we have and I love the little solitude we still have despite our hectic lives. I just don’t want to lose it and you with it.”,

“I love what we have too. I love coming home to you after I’ve had a long day at work and just crawling into your arms and being okay. I love our life and the apartment we live in. I love our pets - although we have to have a serious talk about Salt, she’s been acting up lately. We need to teach her some manners,” talking about their cat earned her a small laugh from Raquel, “You bring me peace, Raquel. You are the only thing that has been consistent in my life so far. I would be a fool to give that up.”

Raquel moved up to face Alicia and they kissed. They kissed until Raquel suddenly moved away and held her hand in front of her mouth. She rushed to get out of bed, past Alicia, and into their bathroom and before she knew it she was over the toilet, vomiting. Alicia came in behind her and held her hair back. It was just dry retching since Raquel hadn’t touched her toast yet and Alicia’s heart broke over how painful it sounded.

After a few minutes it was over and Raquel exhaustedly lay down on the cool bathroom floor closing her eyes trying to steady her breathing. Alicia put a towel over her shivering body and tried to warm her up by rubbing her hands against her arms.

“Darling, I have to go to the pharmacy and get you some meds but I don’t wanna leave you here. Do you think you can get up and try and go back to bed?”, Alicia asked her.

Raquel really didn’t want to get up, afraid it would upset her stomach again but she knew she couldn’t stay on the cold tiles so she groaned and tried sitting up. Alicia wrapped her arms around Raquel’s waist and helped her into a standing position. Raquel swayed but Alicia got her. Together they walked back to the bedroom and Raquel got under the covers again, closing her eyes and falling asleep almost instantly.

Alicia took one last look at her before she got Mayle, her purse and her keys and went to the Pharmacy. When she got back Raquel was still asleep. Alicia cleaned the bedside table and got rid of the toast which was dried up by now. She made the fennel tea she got from the pharmacy; smelled horrible but apparently it was supposed to help with sickness and calming your stomach. She got the meds out of her bag and went into the bedroom to wake Raquel up.

“Raquel?”

No answer.

“Raquel?”, she asked again, louder this time.

Still no sign of movement from Raquel. She put her hand on Raquel’s shoulder and lightly shook her to wake her up.

“Raquel, mi amor, wake up.”

Finally Raquel opened her eyes and groaned.

“What is it?”

“I’m sorry to wake you but I’ve got your meds and here’s some tea. Can you sit up and try and have some, please?”

Raquel slowly sat up, took the meds and swallowed them down with water. When she tried the tea she wrinkled her nose.

“You want me to drink that? What is that? Poison?”

“Bold of you to assume that I’d poison you when you’re at your weakest. Who am I supposed to annoy when you’re dead, huh?”, Alicia chuckled. “No, it’s fennel tea. It’s supposed to help when your stomach is upset. Just drink it fast.”

Raquel drank the tea in small sips since it was still hot and Alicia stayed with her. She felt her forehead once again and noted that Raquel’s fever had gone down.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better now that I threw up but definitely worse than this morning.”

Raquel was shivering once again.

“Wanna watch a film in bed with me?”, Alicia asked.

“Yes, please.” Raquel pleaded and got under the covers again.

Alicia got her laptop out from under the bed and moved next to Raquel so she could cuddle into her; which she did. They chose to watch ‘Carol’. They’ve watched that film thousands of times but since its autumn now with Christmas approaching it’s setting just the right vibe. They cuddled up together, Raquel still drinking her tea and watched the film together.

Right in the middle of the film Alicia noticed that Raquel’s head was getting heavier by the second. She looked down and what she saw filled her heart with love. Raquel was snuggled up against her shoulder, falling asleep, still holding her cup in one hand and the other hand held on to Alicia’s hand. Alicia tried to move as slowly as she could to not wake Raquel up. She took the cup from her, tucked her in under the covers and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

She went into the living room again, taking her laptop with her and settled down to do some more research for work. She googled ’70’s chat circle” and was greeted with the most ugly chat circles.

“Ugh who in their right mind would want that? They’re fucking ugly.”, she scoffed and saved some pictures to print out. She had to show these to her clients first so they could get an idea.

It was now 6pm and her stomach let her know that it was dinner time. She frustratedly closed her laptop, went to the kitchen and poured some food into Salt’s and Pepper’s bowl. This time Salt purred and snuggled up against her leg.

“Yeah yeah I love you too.”, Alicia rolled her eyes.

She turned around and opened the fridge. She was greeted with absolutely nothing. The only thing they had in was white wine and as much as she loved white wine she had to get some food for her and for Raquel. So she grabbed her coat and put Mayle on her leash again and went out. But before she left, she wrote a note and left it on Raquel’s bedside table in case she woke up.

When she came back she was greeted with Raquel sitting in the kitchen wrapped in her bathrobe and drinking another cup of tea.

“Hey, what are you doing up?”, Alicia asked surprised.

“Well, the tea you made me has been sending me to the toilet non-stop so I thought I might as well just get up and wait for you here. I feel a lot better now and I don’t think I have a fever anymore. I am actually quite hungry.”

“Well good for you because I went out and bought us some curry. I’m glad your appetite is back. That means you’re getting better.”

Alicia got two plates and got the curry out of the paper bag. Raquel moved to the cupboard, got two glasses and filled them up with water. They both sat down at their dinner table and started to eat. Until suddenly they were interrupted by Alicia’s phone ringing.

“Why? It’s 7pm on a Saturday. What the hell do you want?”, Alicia exclaimed annoyed. As soon as she saw who it was she put her phone on silent and sat back down at the table.

“Why are you not answering?”, Raquel asked her. Alicia never not answered her phone.

“It’s just this annoying couple that we’re working with and they can’t seem to decide on how the interior of their house should look like. Last week they wanted a big fancy wooden table for their living room. Now they want a 70’s chat circle. You know those things that are built into the floor of your living room so your head is basically at the same level as the floor and you get all the dirt in your face.”

“Yeah I know. Who the hell would want that?”

“I know that’s what I said”, Alicia bursted out, “ Anyways they are by far the worst people I’ve ever worked with. I can’t wait until this job is done and I can move on to nicer people who I’m sure don’t want to completely wreck their house by choosing ugly interior design.”

Raquel laughed. She was amazed that Alicia was able to put her dislikes towards the couple aside and manage to work with them. She still wanted to do the best even though she might hate the job they gave her. Raquel admired Alicia for that because she wasn’t like that. Sometimes she got too emotionally invested in her research and her writing that Alicia had to remind her that it’s not about her opinion. She might write for a left-winged paper but that doesn’t mean the people who have another opinion won’t read her articles and critique her for it. Not that she wasn’t used to comments from people who don’t share her opinion or just want to provoke her but sometimes she was a bit extreme. Not in her eyes. Obviously everybody should have the same sense for justice and human rights that she has but there were always people out there who are too privileged and closed minded to see what’s going on around them.

“What are you smiling at?”, Raquel was brought back from her thoughts when Alicia smiled at her.

“Just you. I admire you for still wanting to do a perfect job and putting your dislikes aside.”, she admitted.

“Ah well, you know they pay me a good amount of money so I don’t want to disappoint them. Besides I can take you out for dinner or we can go on a romantic holiday with that money.”, Alicia teased.

After dinner they cleaned up the kitchen together. Well; more Alicia than Raquel, the latter sat down on their bar stools and watched Alicia clean up the rest. When she was done they settled down on their sofa and decided to watch a National Geographic documentary. Alicia prepared another cup of tea for Raquel and despite her protests she eventually took it and drank it slowly.

They both fell asleep before the end of the documentary and got woken up by Salt and Pepper walking over them to get to their beds.

“Let’s go to bed cariño.”, Alicia said and wrapped her arm around Raquel’s shoulder to steady her because she was stumbling when she got up from the sofa.

They got changed, brushed their teeth and got under the covers snuggling up against each other. They both fell asleep instantly.

———————————————————————————————————————————

For the next two days Alicia made sure that Raquel was being treated well. She stayed home from work on Monday and cancelled all of her meetings despite Raquel telling her that she’ll be fine.

When Alicia was sitting on the sofa she felt some arms wrapping around her.

“Darling, I’m bored. Can we take Mayle for a walk together?”

“Of course. Wait let me just finish that one assignment.”

Raquel moved her hands up and down Alicia’s arms but after a while she got braver and moved to cup Alicia’s breasts.

“What are you doing?”

“Is it not obvious?”, Raquel teased as she moved to kiss Alicia’s neck.

“I thought you wanted to go for a walk? I think Mayle really wants to go out.”, Alicia let out a small moan.

“Mayle can wait, this can’t. We weren’t able to finish what we started on our anniversary.”

“So you are definitely feeling better.”

“Yes, definitely.”, with that Raquel moved around the sofa and sat down on Alicia’s lap attacking her neck.

Alicia wrapped her arms around Raquel’s waist and she felt herself getting wetter every time Raquel ground her middle against Alicia’s legs. They got lost in their make out session and clothes were shed left and right until it was skin on skin. Breath against breath.

Sex with Alicia was Raquel’s favourite activity. Alicia never disappointed. She had her fair share of boyfriends but nobody compared to her. Alicia always made sure that Raquel was satisfied and that always led to multiple orgasms.

Just like this time.

“Okay I think I’ve gotten my proof that you don’t need my care anymore.”, an out of breath Alicia fell down next to Raquel on the sofa.

“What makes you think that?”

“Darling, I just made you come four times in a row. Isn’t that enough proof?”

Raquel propped her head on her elbow and looked at Alicia.

“Te quiero mucho, Alicia. Thank you for always taking good care of me.”

“You don’t need to thank me. We’re a team. I’ll take care of you and you’ll take care of me. That’s how it works.”

Raquel rested her head on Alicia’s shoulder and left small kisses on her neck. Alicia held her close. She wouldn’t know what to do without Raquel. She sometimes wasn’t able to tell her so she hoped she could make up for it with her actions. She loved the intimacy they shared. She loved Raquel and she wouldn’t change a thing.

Suddenly she felt a wet nose on her arm. She looked down to see Mayle nudging her almost as if she wanted to tell them something.

“I think somebody really wants to go for a walk.”,

“Yeah, let’s get dressed and go.”

They both go dressed and put on their coats all the while Mayle excitedly jumped around them. Raquel put her on the leash and moved to open the door. She was held back by two arms around her waist.

“Te quiero, Raquel. Te quiero mucho mucho mucho.”

They kissed once more until Mayle barked at them to let them know that she really wanted to go.

“Okay we’re going. No need to be so impatient.”, Raquel laughed. She grabbed Alicia’s hand and off they went to the park.


End file.
